A Spring in their Step.... or Dust upon their Feet ?

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.   Matt 10:14

Jesus instructed his disciples to shake off the dust from their feet when they left a house or city that would not receive them or their message.  What he meant was this: shake off rejection and move on.  As you're going and telling, don't collect disappointments and rejections and carry them around with you.  They''ll just weigh you down, slow you down, and eventually tie you down.


This still applies to me today.  There are definitely times when I obediently said and taught what God told me to say and teach.  And it was rejected.  Then I agonized that I had messed up in the delivery.  Perhaps it should have been said differently or at a different time.

Maybe these disciples felt that way, too.  Maybe they wondered if they should've said it better or at a better time.  Maybe they wondered why God sent them to that place just to be rejected.  

Jesus knew they would have days like that, so he warned them ahead of time and gave them a symbolic gesture.  Just shake the dust off your feet and move on.  Don't carry the dust of that town to the next town.  Don't carry the misgivings and disappointment of that town to the next town.  Shake it off and move on.

Sometimes people will reject the message because I offend them.  But sometimes people will reject the message because the message offends them.  I can trust the Holy Spirit to wrestle with me when I offended.  If the Holy Spirit isn't wrestling with me, the only obedient response is to shake it off and move on.

From the other angle, when people deliver a message to me, how do I respond?  Do I reject the message and become dust to be shaken off their feet?  Or do I accept the message and become the spring in their step all the way to their next assignment?